Noah's Ark

Between all of the rain in Wisconsin we managed to find a nice day to head to the water park. It actually turned out perfectly because the rain held off, but it was overcast so there weren't a million people there. Abby had a blast and really surprised me and Susan with how well she did on some of the "rides".




Part of the admission price includes a viewing of a 4-D Spongebob movie. I didn't know what 4-D meant but I soon found out. There were parts of the movie that were interactive, for lack of a better word. For example, when there were bubbles on the screen, real bubbles blew through out the theater, and at the end there is a scene with a big splash and water pours down for the ceiling! It was pretty neat but a little scary at the same time. Abby handled most of it well except for at the beginning. During the previews there was a scene where it looked like rats were coming right for your face. She didn't really like that too much, but neither did I!

Ok, could we be any dorkier??

I think Abby is the only one of us who could pull of the look!

Football

With football season upon us I thought I would share the following video. Please remember that Mommy had no part in influencing Abigail's football team of choice. It was all on her own free will ;) Also please note the subjects attire! Enjoy!!!

Home, finally!

Well, we made it home safe and sound after spending a wondeful summer with family in Colorado and Wisconsin. I have a lot more to post about from our time in Wisconsin but, I just have to share a few things from the trip home.

I finally broke down and got Abby her own seat on the plane, even though technically, she can sit in my lap for free for about 10 more days! (Plus, the in laws footed the bill so that always helps! Thanks Susan and Peter!). Anyway, we woke up to rain the morning of our flight but the weather was supposed to clear up by the time our plane left at 11:30. Well, the weather forecasters were wrong again, go figure, and our flight was delayed over an hour and half. The good thing was that we had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Chicago so I wasn't too stressed about missing our connection. On the other hand, you try entertaining a two year old in a very small airport for over 3 hours. Well, in my attempts to keep Abby happy and busy we somehow destroyed my flip flop. Of course this happened about 15 minutes before we were supposed to board so we had to frantically run to the gift shop while praying they sold some shoes. I ended up splurging on some new shoes, $10 flip flops, and no you can't borrow them!!!!



After the shoe fiasco, we finally got on the plane and I was confident that we would have time to make our connection in Chi-Chicago (as Abby calls it). I thought, good...now I can relax a little bit. No such luck. After struggling with the car seat and nearly breaking my hand, I finally sat down and took a breath and about 10 minutes later I was praying for my life. I am not exaggerating. The turbulence on this flight was like nothing I have experienced before in my life and I have been on my fair share of airplanes. If you know me, you know I don't do well with bumps! They were so bad a girl in the back of the plane was screaming "Oh, my god". Abby on the other hand thought we were on the ride of our lives. For the duration of the turbulence she was saying "Whee....bumpy ride Mommy, whee!". She was sensitive to my needs however, and held my hand so I wouldn't be so scared!

Obviously we made it to Chicago safe and sound but by this time my nerves were shot. We scurried through the airport because our once leisurely 2+ hour layover had been shortened to about 40 minutes and O'Hare is a big, very busy, very crowded airport. No sooner did we arrive at our gate did we have to board yet another plane. The ride was much smoother but, still eventful. Right about the time they began serving our in flight beverage, Abby decided to pick my brain, literally. Somehow, someway, she managed to shove her little finger, with her VERY sharp fingernails all the way up my nose. My eyes started to water and shortly after the blood followed. After receiving medical attention from the flight attendant in the form of hard, scratchy napkins I was able to stop the bleeding. Needless to say, the rest of the flight Abby was concerned about my boo-boo and kissed my nose repeatedly to "make it all better". She is so sweet sometimes. We finally made it to Pensacola, 8 hours, 3 suitcases, 2 carry-ons, 1 stroller, 1 car seat, 1 tired toddler, less a pair of shoes, and a sore nose later! But, we are here and happy to be home!!!!

Uncle Josh and Aunt Laura

The other night we headed to Madison to visit Andrews brother, Josh and his wife, Laura. On the way Abby asked about a baby and I told her that Josh and Laura had dogs, not babies. I told her she was welcome to ask her Aunt and Uncle for a cousin! Abby doesn't miss a beat and she marched right up to her Uncle Josh and said " I want baby cousin". Josh and Laura were surprised to say the least!

Here is Abby making her small request!

Oschner Park Zoo

We had an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday so, Abigail and I took full advantage of it. We slept in and took our time getting ready and then we headed to the local Baraboo zoo. It is a free zoo and it is very small but they have some good animals. It was just the right size for Abby.

Abby is feeding the swan and the goats grass she pulled up from the ground because her mom was too cheap to shell out a quarter for food. (All my money was in the car).

I told Abby to put her head in the lions mouth, and this is what I got :)

After we had seen all the animals, we headed down to the park, which was right by the zoo. We played on the playground, went down the slide, went on the swings, played in the sand and rode on the horses!




Abigail and I worked up quite an appetite at the zoo and the playground, so we decided to head to Daddy's favorite place for lunch...Culvers. We enjoyed our lunch and then we had a tasty treat outside, frozen custard. Yum! I know Andrew will be jealous we went, but we couldn't make a trip out to Wisconsin and not go to Culvers, it would be un-american. I guess you could say we were doing out patriotic duty ;)

Notice the similar pose in the 2 pictures??

The Wiggles Concert

Abby and I had the privliege of attending The Wiggles concert in Madison with grammy Susan. We had such a good time and Abigail absolutely LOVED it! I was very impressed with the show and as I hang my head in shame, I will tell you I may have enjoyed it even more than Abby did! It was neat seeing The Wiggles live after watching them endlessly on tv! Abby sat through the 1st half of the show completely enthralled. She sat on my lap, staring and didn't move a muscle. I think she was just in awe of the whole thing. About 1/2 way through she got up and started dancing, singing and clapping. It was the cutest thing ever! I didn't get very good pictures due to the lighting but these should give you an idea of what it was like. Thanks again Susan, we had a blast!

JORTS

You may have noticed in my last post some of the awesome attire that I was sporting. In paticular, the colorful shirt accompanied by some cut-off jeans. Well, to give everyone a little more insight into the jean short wearing lifestyle, I thought I would dedicate this entire post to jorts.



Jorts, defined by the ever trustworthy Wikipedia, reads as follows:


A Jort (or Jorts, plural) short for "jean-shorts", is a garment worn by women or men that covers the pelvic area, the buttocks, and the upper part of the legs (typically the part above the knee.) Jorts are types of shorts that are made only from denim.



Our entourage is the talk of Soto Cano. We are collectively known as the jort'ers. And our entourage grows bigger and bigger by the day. Here are some pics of the latest fashion trend sweeping across central Honduras.

First off, I am very upset with the magazine US Weekly. How dare they call Justin Timberlake's jorts a "Disturbing Male Fashion."

Our Volleyball team-The Joint Staff Jort'ers

Another pic of the team. This was our post game celebration/Ernesto Birthday party. I think I was doing a shot-put pose, but who knows...

Here I am sporting a Jordache...get it??

Our Jort'ers Volleyball team is so popular, a card company in Tegucigalpa has started making Volleyball Cards for us. This is Tim, the team Captain.


This is the birth of some jorts. Matt finally realized how stupid he looked wearing jean pants, and decided to rectify the situation.

Our friends KT and Heidi support the team by sporting Jort Headbands, or as I call them, crown's of awesomeness.

I ran into this guy at the Lizard Lounge. He was also sporting Jorts, so I HAD to get my photo with him. Apparently he took it the wrong way.

This is Fiddler. He is so confident in his jortuality, that crossing his legs like that while wearing jorts just aint no thang

So proud is Juan Pablo, that he decided to get a Jorts tattoo!

Well that's all for now. Hopefully you all now have a greater appreciation for the Jort'n lifestyle.